Caller Identity Display, known commonly as Caller ID, is often used by merchants to retrieve stored customer data when a customer contacts a merchant. The data may be transferred to an agent that is charged with handling the needs of the customer. Therefore, the agent has the customer's information before dialog with the customer begins. The conventional technology that coordinates the described process is called computer telephony integration.
Online purchasing of goods and services has undergone significant growth over the past years. Instead of using conventional telephones to contact merchants, customers often browse many ecommerce merchant websites before purchasing goods and services. These ecommerce merchant websites enable customers to select and purchase goods in a generally convenient manner.
Many online entities, including ecommerce merchants, employ the use of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology that is capable of routing voice conversations over the Internet. VoIP technology encodes analog voice into digital signals that may be communicated over the packet-switched network technology that is used by the Internet. VoIP technology may enable online entities to communicate with users of the Internet, but the technology is unable to accommodate various needs of ecommerce merchants.